(Screen captures are lightly compressed with lossy JPEG thus are meant as a general representation of the content and do not fully reveal the capabilities of the Blu-ray format)

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The Film

[Rating:3.5/5]

Who knew that there was a subculture of guys (mostly guys, but a few gals as well, I’m sure) who geek out on programming visual demos on all sorts of gadgets, from old calculators and digital watches to Amigas, Macs, and PCs? Well, the Mindcandy series of releases collects the works of these “demoscene” artists in the highest possible quality all in one place. Volume 3: PC Demos 2003-2010 brings together demos all done completely on the PC and is the first collection released in HD on Blu-ray.

The collection features 39 demos, all brief in nature and vastly different graphically. Each one is anchored by a techno soundtrack, which seems to be a running theme, but surprisingly work rather well with the trippy, hypnotic graphics. I’m not sure how much replay value a title like this has, but that these folks are talented is indisputable. The term “mindcandy” is a fitting label for these often meditative, cutting edge pieces.

Video Quality

[Rating:4/5]

The video productions are offered up at the unusual 720p/60 framerate as the producers claim this is “2.5 times as smooth as CGI film.” Perhaps, but as good as some of this stuff looks, it lacks some sharpness that a “Full HD” 1080p/24 transfer might have added. Ultimately, however, much of the source material itself isn’t exactly the highest quality CGI work on the level of a Pixar or DreamWorks production, so I’m not certain how much it would have gained from the higher resolution. It looks good for what it is and definitely works as demo material.

Audio Quality

[Rating:3/5]

Sadly, only Dolby Digital 2.0 is offered on here, which is disappointing. Something more high quality, like DTS-HD Master Audio or Dolby TrueHD in 5.1 would have have been very enjoyable with these techno-inspired tunes. Ultimately, the soundtrack is serviceable, if a bit jagged around the edges, but it definitely could have been better.

Supplemental Materials

[Rating:4/5]

The supplements included are extensive and all rather technical in nature. A lot of it may fly over most people’s heads, to be honest, but it’s good that they are included and true demo geeks will love it. Audio commentaries by the artists are included for each demo as well.

The supplements:

Audio Commentaries

An Intro to Intros (00:17:59) – Intros are demos that can be executed in very tiny small sizes. This feature shows of some of these intros from the demoscene, some as small as 16kb in file size.

Mindcandy is eye and ear candy that makes for excellent high definition demo material. This release is definitely an oddity that won’t be for everyone, but I urge you all to broaden your horizons and check it out.